Christian Bale Quotes

I think for me, the imaginary world was always exciting. I started in New York doing theatre, from having just one person in an audience to performing for a full house. I think I've always enjoyed playing different characters, blending into different environments and such.

Acting is make-believe. I never believe I'm the character; I want you to believe.

Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience's imagination and create a suspension of disbelief, by which I mean there's no fourth wall.

That's probably the biggest secret of acting: If the actor believes it themselves, they can make you believe it.

Acted drama requires surrender of one's self, sympathetic absorption in the play as it develops.

There is something special about being an actor and able to bring somebody's visualisation - director, storywriter and script writer - into life. It is almost like creating a person.

If a movie is really working, you forget for two hours your Social Security number and where your car is parked. You are having a vicarious experience. You are identifying, in one way or another, with the people on the screen.

I think actors always retain one foot in the cradle. We're switched on to our youth, to our childhood. We have to be because we're in the business of transferring emotions to other people.

One of the pleasures of being an actor is quite simply taking a walk in someone else's shoes. And when I look at the roles I've played, I'm kind of amazed at all the wonderful adventures I've had and the different things I've learned.

I hate acting when I see it. I don't want to feel it, I don't want to see it, I want to be taken away with the story - I don't want the actor's ego in front of me. That's what I try to live when I do the work.

I think that's what we're all trying to do as actors, is create some sort of passion from people and allow them to have something to really care about and something they enjoy and look forward to on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, whatever it is, where you get to sit down and escape.

At the end of the day, acting is all about telling lies. We are professional imposters and the audience accept that. We've made this deal that we tell you a tale and a pack of lies, but there will be a truth in it. You may enjoy it, or it will disturb you.

You can keep yourself alive. That's the magic of being an actor.

Acting allows me to explore new worlds, to discover characters by delving into their lives, and ultimately to become someone else entirely.

I love to be a vessel through which characters can come through. And if I can move an audience with my work, then I've done my job.

There's a joy in acting that's not present in writing, but there's a gratification in writing and creating that you can't necessarily find in acting.

For me, acting is like a pool you dive into. If you're lucky, you find what you need, then get out again.

I like to play people that are real, a real person, and then something that's interesting with that person. I think it's a lot more challenging to do that than something that's extremely fantasy-like.

It's one of the main things that I love about my job. You are never playing yourself, so I really love that I get to be someone else, play a different character and take on that persona, but I also have to take on their qualifications.

Something that I really enjoy doing is creating and being a part of very different characters and very different projects.

I think acting is a fun thing because you get to have so many lifetimes in one lifetime, being all these different people.

Actors, their greatest tool, their greatest resource is imagination. You can take things, power objects, you can recruit your dreams, you can access your memories and get there. So the idea is not to act but to just be.

That's why I enjoy acting: getting in the mind of someone else.

I was very intense. I think it's a privilege to be an actor.

I've never liked watching real-life couples play couples onscreen or onstage. It takes me out of the story.